Thursday, June 30, 2011

Perfect Iced Coffee. No..really. PERFECT. ICED. COFFEE



So, any iced coffee drinker out there knows that iced coffee is nectar of the gods.. if it's bought. It never tastes right made at home! I LOVE my Keurig, but the iced coffee is awful on it. I have the $99 one (had the Platinum one at first... long story short I returned it thinking it was broken, but the outlet was bad..), and it instructs to brew over ice. Well, it brews hot coffee, over ice. Yup, you guessed it. It's watered down and doesn't taste good at all. I've brewed big pots of coffee and refrigerated it, but it still isn't just right. Or maybe that's just what I tell myself to excuse the many trips to the bux...

Anyways. Thanks to The Pioneer Woman, this is no longer a problem. I think she called it "liquid gold," seriously, it is.

Funny story... one of 2 people I know here in VA that drink coffee, Megan, was doing this at the same time! I sent her a facebook message to tell her about the sweet nectar, and here she was brewing her own!

Without further adieu...

Perfect Iced Coffee

Ingredients:
-1 lb. bag of coffee grinds (stronger the better)
-2 gallons cold water

1. In a large container, bucket, pitcher (whatever will fit 2 gallons)- empty the grinds, followed by the 2 gallons of water. Stir until all grinds are wet. Cover and let sit minimum 8 hours.

2.) After 8 hours or more, strain the concoction through cheesecloth and a strainer into a container. This takes time, but worth it. Hang in there!

3.) What is left is amazing. You can use this for up to a month in the fridge if you keep it sealed.

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Notes:
-I didn't buy a 16oz (1 lb) bag of coffee, didn't even realize I bought 12 oz. I just adjusted to 1.5 gallons instead.
-I didn't buy strong enough. I used Eight O'Clock Coffee Original, but will go with something stronger next time.
-I used beautiful milk bottles that were left here at the house by the previous owners. Makes me feel REAL country!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Savory Sausage Breakfast Rolls



These are amazing. Sooo good. I only made these once, but thanks to catching up on my blog, I'll probably make these again next week. They're a great brunch for a Saturday with a bowl of fruit and a great cup of Keurig coffee! Better yet, Lyn's coffee, but beggars can't be choosers... My sister Lyn makes the MOST AMAZING coffee you will ever drink. No matter how I duplicate and copy her every move, it never tastes like hers.

These are from a Cooking Light magazine/cookbook, "Quick Baking," with a display until date of November, 2010.

Savory Sausage Breakfast Rolls

Ingredients:
1 (11-ounce) can of refrigerated French bread dough
2 T butter, melted
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
¼ tsp salt
8 oz. Reduced fat pork sausage, cooked and crumbled (such as Jimmy Dean)
¾ cup (3 oz.) shredded Gruyere cheese
Cooking Spray

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Find lengthwise seam in dough. Beginning at seam, gently unroll dough into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 13 x 8-inch rectangle; brush with butter, leaving a ½ inch border.
3. Combine sage, sat, and sausage. Sprinkle sausage mixture evenly over dough, leaving a ½ inch border; top with cheese. Starting with the long side, roll dough up, jelly-roll fashion; press seam to seal (do not seal ends of roll.)
4. Cut 1 (1/2 inch think) cross-wise slice from each end; discard dough. Slice the roll cross-wise into 12 (1/2 inch thick) pieces; arrange pieces in a 13 x 9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 28 minutes or until golden brown. Serve Warm. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 2 rolls)

Calories: 312
Fat: 16.8g
Protein: 15.5g
Carb: 24.8
Fiber: 0g
Chol: 52mg
Iron: 1.8mg
Sodium: 738mg
Calc: 146mg
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Notes:
-I used Swiss cheese, Gruyere is expensive! And if I’m buying it, I want to enjoy it on something like French Onion Soup… mmm…
-I didn’t discard the dough. I baked them too!
-Tip: use an extremely sharp knife to cut the pinwheels, and let the knife do the work cutting through to get perfect pinwheels.

A Southern Thing I: Sausage Gravy

I'm BACK! I'm going to catch up on a bunch of recipes that I've had stored up, but will be trying to stay more current from now on. School is done and I am carefree! For the time being until I start working that is... ;) The original "Baby-Plan" has been nixed...for now. Maybe just shelved. I don't know what it is, being around certain kids, or just loving my life the way it is, I don't want kids right now.

SO. I'll start off with Sausage Gravy. I'm trying this whole "Southern" cooking thing every once in a while to appease my Southern-born hunk of a husband. So far I'm not loving it. My original thoughts of Southern cooking were just butter and gravy. Paula Deen is giving "y'all" (that means 'yous guys') a bad rap!

Drew LOVED this. I did not. I made gorgeous biscuits to go with it, and ended up eating them with butter and Hero jelly. I am not a thyme-fan, dried thyme that is, so this was out for me. Maybe I'll try it again with fresh thyme...

Here's the recipe, courtesy of the Knead For Bread blog:





Sausage Gravy

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:

1 pound mild pork sausage
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon onion salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
4 -5 tablespoon flour
3 cups whole milk

1 ) Cook the sausage meat in a skillet.
2 ) Add in the butter and all the spices. Cook for a few minutes.
3 ) Add in the flour, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
4 ) Add in the milk and stir using a whisk till the gravy comes to a slow boil. Turn down the heat and continue to stir till the gravy comes to the desired thickness. I cooked mine for about and extra 8 minutes to reduce the gravy and create more flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over freshly baked biscuits and enjoy.